Captain Bedhead to the Rescue!
by Nico.elle
Summary: A brooding banana-kiwi hating reluctant hero, a crazy klepto sidekick with a bottomless gut, a strange new girl with an uncanny memory, an enigmatic damsel-in-distress - confused? Welcome to the beginning of a seemingly random tale from FFVII AU .


_"Shit shit shit"_ Cloud cursed to himself silently as he walked aimlessly through the streets of Midgar, completely lost in thought. "_What happens now? What the hell am I -"_

"HIYA!!!" a familiar high-pitched warrior's cry cut through his thoughts. From the corner of his eye Cloud saw a small projectile flying fast towards him. Had he noticed a second later it would've made a direct hit but he tilted his head right when it was about to graze his ear and caught it effortlessly between his index and middle finger.

"Yuffie" he grunted, narrowing his eyes. 'Hello' - a single word, one syllable, the usual greeting normal people used to greet someone and make their presence known - but this erratic girl was anything but normal. In one fluid motion he turned around and whipped the shuriken back at her like a frisbee.

"Yo!" the spunky petite tomboy smiled with an impish gleam in her eyes as she caught the shuriken "heh, I see your reflexes are still as sharp as ever."

"And you're still as annoying as ever. How much money do you need to borrow this time?" Cloud asked bluntly as he folded his arms in a defensive stance, eying her critically.

"Hey! Can't a girl pay a nice leisurely visit to an ol' friend just 'cause?" Yuffie pouted, offended by the cold reception.

"Fair enough. Good luck finding them" Cloud muttered irritably as he walked past her.

"Whaaa hey ya big meanie, why ya gotta be like that! Dontcha think that was a little harsh? Hey stop! Aren't you the least bit curious why I came to see you? Huh?!" She whined as she tailed him. He stopped abruptly and turned around, causing Yuffie to bump into his chest and nearly topple over "aah - hey, what's the big idea! Some warning would've been nice" she complained as she grabbed onto Cloud to help steady herself.

"I could say the same to you" he retorted, brushing her off.

"Eheh touche! You want answers? Then follow me" she said in a sing-song voice. "I'm a little thirsty, let's get some drinks. My treat" she winked at Cloud playfully before she turned and marched forward. Cloud stared after her skeptically as he was hit with the sudden uneasy feeling that he was about a pound lighter than he should be. Yuffie shuddered as she felt the sudden presence of a dark cloud looming behind her. She picked up her pace until he overtook her and stepped in front of her, blocking her path. "Is something the matter?" she asked with mock innocence.

"I seem to have misplaced my wallet. You wouldn't happen to know where it is, would you Yuffie?" he replied, humoring his sticky fingered friend.

"Chillax Mr. grumpypants, look, we're all of two feet away from Hikari. Maybe a nice refreshing drink will help jog your memory" she said evading his question as she flash-stepped around him and beelined to the specialty dessert house they all frequented before he had a chance to stop her.

"Hi, what can I get you?" asked a cutesy voice, causing Cloud to temporarily shift his attention from glaring at the back of Yuffie's head to the girl behind the counter. She had curly brown shoulder length hair that framed her cute doll like face, which was covered with freckles.

"What the, that's not Tifa" Cloud thought to himself out loud.

"Thank you captain obvious" Yuffie rolled her eyes, earning a death glare from Cloud. "Where is Tifa anyways?"

"She went to pick up Marlene from daycare. You want me to tell her you came by?"

"Nah, I'll wait. And in the meantime, I'll have a batch of mildly spicy chicken wings ooh and honey garlic! And I've gotta have salt and pepper... heck, throw in some teriyaki for good measure and we should be good to go" Yuffie smiled as she patted her rumbling stomach. Cloud continued to scowl at Yuffie without saying a word "oh and I'll also top it all off with a strawberry taro snow with pearls. Mr. Sunshine back here will have banana kiwi" she smirked as she heard a muffled gagging sound and pictured the disgusted look he was most likely making behind her.

"Actually, I'll have a taro snow without pearls" he corrected as he cleared his throat, knowing Yuffie made the false order to purposefully get a rise out of him - she knew how much he hated the gritty texture of the kiwi seeds and he just plain hated bananas. "And some cheong fun (rice paper rolls) with peanut sauce" he added as he stepped up beside Yuffie and was about to chastise her when the new girl gasped suddenly.

"Wha?! Is something wrong?" Yuffie asked startled as she and Cloud both turned their attention to her. An awkward silence ensued as the already pale girl seemed to turn even paler, her honey brown eyes wide with confusion as she stared at Cloud like he had a third eye. "Ah, I know what you're probably thinking: damn, how much product is in that guy's hair? But believe it or not, all he does is roll out of bed and voila - he's just rockin' a serious case of bedhead" Yuffie managed to say with a straight face.

"Shut up you damn klepto" Cloud glowered as he tried to keep his cool, which was hard to do with Yuffie hunched over, clutching her stomach with one hand and pointing at his hair with the other, shaking as she was about to burst into a fit of laughter. The girl stared blankly at Yuffie for a few seconds before looking back at Cloud.

"I see" the girl smiled faintly before breaking down into a fit of giggles herself "I was curious about that gravity defying hair of yours but the secret is bedhead eh? haha who would've thought! It's just like him... er but anyways, sorry for spacing out. About your order, you guys said you wanted one strawberry taro snow with pearls, one taro snow without pearls, a batch of mildly spicy, honey garlic, salt and pepper, and teriyaki chicken wings, and one order of cheong fun with peanut sauce, right?" Cloud and Yuffie stared at the girl dumbstruck as they knodded their heads.

"Good memory" Cloud noted.

"Thanks, please take a seat while I get your order ready"

"Oh, I'm Yuffie and this is Cloud by the way"

"I'm Cissnei. Nice to meet you" she smiled at them warmly and gave a friendly knod before disappearing in the back to prepare their order.

"WTF was with her?!" Yuffie mouthed, causing a small smirk to play on Cloud's lips. He shrugged as he scratched the back of his head.

"She said 'just like him' meaning I remind her of someone..."

"Yeah, a human hedgehog" Yuffie joked but the comment seemed to go right over Cloud's head as he looked to be lost in thought, just like when Yuffie had first spotted him. "Yoohoo, earth to Cloud" she sang as she flailed her hands around in front of him playfully, trying in vain to get his attention. Her eyebrows creased with worry "don't do this Cloud, don't shut everyone out again. We need you... _she_ needs you" Yuffe pleaded as she tugged at his sleeve.

"Who?" he asked, eyes suddenly sharp, sitting up with his back straight as he came to attention.

"You know who" Yuffie murmured almost inaudibly, as she guiltily avoided Cloud's intense gaze.

_"Shit shit shit" _Cloud cursed to himself out loud this time, burrying his face in his hands as he was faced with the same questions from before _"what happens now? What the hell do they expect me to do..."_

----------------------------------

**First off, if you're reading this that means you made it through my first fanfic :) thanks for reading! I hope you liked it. I know it seems like a pretty random story but I do know what direction I want to take the story and I have some overarching ideas for future chapters. But please let me know if you're interested in reading more because if nobody is, I'll leave this as a one-shot and try my hand at writing another fic. Of course any comments/criticisms are welcome (er although I'd appreciate it if you didn't flat out say 'u suck/epic fail' I mean, I respect your opinion and by all means, you should say what you feel but I'd appreciate it if you worded it a little nicer since I'm a rookie fanfic writer who's not used to facing the firing squad quite yet eheh). Thanks again for reading! v(^_^)v**


End file.
